Three-point motor vehicle occupant seat-belt restraint systems having a seat-belt webbing are well known. These seat-belt systems typically comprise a single length of seat-belt webbing with continuous lap and shoulder webbing portions, which when in use, are disposed across both a front seat assembly occupant's lap and chest so as to prevent movement of the upper torso as well as movement of the lower portion of the torso in the event of a collision.
One end of the seat-belt webbing is typically wound on a webbing recoiling-tensioning device located on a floor or outer side wall of the vehicle. The recoiling-tensioning device stores excess seat-belt webbing. Furthermore, when the seat-belt webbing is not in use, the recoiling-tensioning device provides the vehicle with an aesthetically appealing, neat, appearance, by retaining the seat-belt webbing out of the way. These recoiling-tensioning devices are typically of the automatic locking type so as to lock the seat-belt webbing against pull-out upon the initial winding of the seat-belt webbing after being pulled from a fully stored condition. These recoiling-tensioning devices are also typically of the inertia type so that the belt is locked against pull-out in response to abrupt belt pulls and/or in response to abrupt vehicle acceleration or deceleration.
The opposite, other end of the seat-belt webbing is typically secured to the vehicle's floor or outer side wall by an anchor plate. An intermediate portion of the seat-belt webbing is hung through a slip ring, commonly known as a “D-ring”. The D-ring is located on a central vehicle pillar, commonly termed a “B-pillar”, so as to guide the seat-belt webbing to a zone which is generally accessible to a front seat assembly occupant. A tongue plate is slidably carried by the intermediate portion of the seat-belt webbing that is between the D-ring and the anchor plate.
The front seat assembly occupant uses such a seat-belt system when seated in a respective seat assembly by gripping the tongue plate and pulling the seat-belt webbing laterally across his/her chest to engage the tongue plate with a buckle device attached to the vehicle floor or to the seat-cushion of the seat assembly adjacent to a laterally inboard edge of said seat cushion member so as to releasably engage the buckle device in a fastened configuration. When the front seat assembly occupant disengages the tongue plate from the buckle device so as to release the seat-belt system from the fastened configuration, the seat-belt webbing retracts so as to be wound onto the recoiling-tensioning device by the reeling force of the device, and the tongue plate moves outwardly toward the rear of the vehicle together with the seat-belt webbing. In this manner, when the seat-belt system is not in use, the tongue plate resting position is substantially adjacent on the B-pillar, proximate to the D-ring.
A two-door passenger motor vehicle (coupe or convertible) is commonly provided with front seat assemblies having seatbacks, which are tippable between a deployed design configuration, and a forwardly tipped configuration. In the deployed design configuration, the seatback member is locked in an upright and occupiable position. In the tipped configuration the seatback member is forwardly tipped over the seat cushion member, for facilitating passenger access into and out of the rear seat area. Tipping of the seatback member is achieved by operating an actuating element, typically provided on, or adjacent to, the outboard side of the seatback member, to release a locking element allowing the seatback member to be forwardly tipped.
In general, such two-door vehicles have relatively wide doors, requiring the B-pillar to be located further behind the front seat assembly occupant than would be the case in a four-door vehicle of the same general type. Accordingly, seat-belt systems mounted on the B-pillar of two-door vehicles, are typically anchored significantly behind the perspective front vehicle seat assembly. Thus, when not in use, the seat-belt webbing is placed in an unfavourable position on the B-pillar where it cannot easily be reached by the occupant sitting in a front seat assembly, especially when the seat assembly is in a foremost longitudinally adjusted position.
Accordingly, when the front seat assembly occupant attempts to put on and buckle the seat-belt system after sitting in the front seat assembly, s/he has to grasp at the seat-belt webbing by significantly twisting his/her upper torso toward the outboard rear of the vehicle.
In order to avoid this inconvenience, as well as to situate the seat-belt webbing in a more comfortable position while it is worn by the front seat assembly occupant, an annular seat-belt webbing guide is occasionally mounted on, or adjacent to, the outboard side of the seatback member. This known solution provides the advantage of retainingly positioning the seat-belt webbing forwardly, and inwardly away from the B-pillar, so as to be closer in relation to the front seat assembly occupant, thereby allowing the front seat assembly occupant to quickly and easily grasp the seat-belt webbing for the purpose of buckling same. Variations on this design include, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,169 to Larsen et al. issued Apr. 7, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,499 to Salisbury, Jr. issued Mar. 24, 1998.
While such seat-belt webbing guides provide advantages over prior webbing guide arrangements, they carry with them their own shortcomings. One disadvantage of this type of annular seat-belt webbing guide is that it does not allow for the seat-belt webbing to be disengaged from the webbing guide. As mentioned earlier, in two-door vehicles, access to the rear seating area is obtained by tipping the front seatback member forward and then reaching on stepping through the front door opening. In such two-door vehicles, the aforedescribed front seat-belt system complicates access to the rear seating area through the front door opening when the front seatback member is forwardly tipped. That is, with the front seatback member positioned in the tipped configuration and the seat-belt webbing passing through the annular webbing guide, the seat-belt webbing extends across the door opening between the front seatback member and the B-pillar, thereby creating an obstacle for persons attempting to gain access to the rear seat area of the vehicle.
This problem has been overcome to some extent through the use of penannular seat-belt webbing guides. These improved webbing guides are typically annular, and further comprise a slot to the centre of the annular through which the seat-belt webbing may be inserted or removed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,875 to Yoshitsugu, issued Mar. 15, 1988, is an improvement on the basic annular webbing guide design, and illustrates several art variations on this improved concept. The generally C-shaped webbing guide of Yoshitsugu allows the seat-belt webbing to be released therefrom in order to facilitate passenger ingress and egress from the rear seating area of the vehicle.
One disadvantage of such improved seat-belt webbing guides are that it is difficult to quickly and easily insert and withdraw the seat-belt webbing therefrom, especially by an occupant already seated in the front seat assembly. A solution to this problem had been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,278 to Sukopp et al. issued Apr. 6, 1982. The Sukopp et al. patent discloses a seat-belt webbing guide, which is essentially an upwardly-bent hook, mounted to a side of the seat-back member. While the solution taught by this patent improves the ease with which fitting of the seat-belt webbing on to and off from the seat-belt webbing guide can be accomplished, it also has disadvantages. For example a problem with this design is that the seat-belt webbing is not secured to the seat-belt webbing guide, thereby, allowing for the seat-belt webbing to slide off from it too easily. When the seat-belt webbing does slide off from the seat-belt webbing guide, all advantage of the webbing guide is lost, as the occupant of the front seat assembly must now grasp the seat-belt webbing by significantly twisting his upper torso toward the outboard rear of the vehicle.
It is also known to provide a seat-belt system integrally mounted on the vehicle seat assembly. This type of arrangement is known as All Belts To Seat, or “ABTS”. For example, in certain vehicles (e.g. high end convertibles), a B-pillar is not present for seat-belt webbing or D-ring attachment. Integrally formed ABTS seat-belt systems, while effective, significantly increase production expense and require more robust seat assembly designs. Such seat assembly designs are generally much more expensive to produce and add considerable weight to the vehicle, as the entire seat assembly must be made more robust to handle the additional crash-loading placed by such designs on the seat assembly.
In view of the foregoing, it is be desirable to provide an improved seat-belt webbing guide for use with front seat assemblies of two-door coupes and convertibles, which guide significantly overcomes the inadequacies and shortcomings of the prior art, without the need to resort to an ABTS design.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved webbing guide which allows for quick and easy selective disengagement of the seat-belt webbing from the webbing guide upon forward tipping of the seatback of a front seat assembly in a two-door vehicle to facilitate ease of access to the rear seating area of such a vehicle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved webbing guide of the type just described which additionally allows a front seat assembly occupant seated in the front seat assembly of a two-door vehicle to readily and conveniently selectively secure the seat-belt webbing to the webbing guide without significant twisting or turning of his/her upper torso, thereby to readily have the seat-belt webbing redirected by said improved webbing guide to a convenient location adjacent to an upper portion of the seatback member for easy grasping by said seat assembly occupant to facilitate subsequent buckling operations.